The Storm and Trials of Parenting Your Young Children
by AMaximander500
Summary: AU. Dean has traded in the life of a hunter for the life of a parent after he met his now wife and her son. Here's a little glance into the life of the former hunter who is now a husband, and a father to a nine year old, and three four year olds!


**AN: I DON'T OWN DEAN WINCHESTER OR SUPERNATURAL. HOWEVER, I DO OWN RYAN, CALI, JACK, ALEC, AND DEAN'S UNSEEN WIFE JAIME.**

It was only five minutes past bedtime. Five minutes! And yet it felt more like an hour as Dean tried to wrangle in three tireless four year olds into their beds for the night. He was on his own since his wife, Jaime, was out of town for a work related event for the week, and Dean's oldest, who was truly only his through a signature and under the title "stepdad," lounged lazily on the couch, eyes hopelessly lost in the TV program he was watching. Yup, Dean was really forever alone on his own with this one.

"Daddy, how come Ryan gets to stay up later than we do?" Cali wondered once she surrendered to her father's fake tears and fibbed, "Woe is me, Mommy married a terrible father," act. She was always a daddy's girl at heart though, even when she pushed her dad's buttons.

"Because Ryan's older than you and your brothers," Dean said as he carried Cali up the stairs in his muscular and protective scarred arms.

"When can I stay up late like Ryan?" Cali wondered as she circled her arms around her father's neck, lacing her fingers together and looking him curiously in the eye.

"When you're his age." Dean shrugged.

"Am I Ryan's age now?" Cali grinned causing Dean to chuckle and blow a raspberry on her cute, chubby, grinning little cheek.

"Not yet. You have this many years to go before you're Ryan's age." Dean held up the exact amount of fingers representing how many years his only daughter had to go until she was her older brother's age. In truth, Dean knew the time would fly by, not that he was looking forward to it.

"Ok, princess, time for you to catch some Z's." Dean laid Cali down in her pink and sparkly princess bed. A daddy's girl and a girly girl. He sometimes wondered how Cali survived sharing a room with two brothers… "Now I'm gonna try and wrangle up those brother's of yours," Dean said.

"Get Jack first. He's easier to get than Alec," Cali said.

"Thanks for the tip, princess." Dean kissed Cali on the head and walked out of the room.

Jack was known in the house for a few things, but the number one thing he was known for was hiding behind the rocking chair in the playroom whenever he didn't want to do something.

Dean smirked as he crept into the playroom upstairs knowing full well what he was in for. "Oh no! I think I lost Jack! What am I ever going to do!" Dean turned his head and smirked as he bent down and spotted his youngest son. "Ah ha! Got'cha!"

Jack screamed and laughed wildly as Dean lifted him into the air and blew a raspberry on his cute little belly.

"No Daddy! I don't wanna go to bed!" Jack said.

"Well I'm sorry, bud, but it's bedtime," Dean said, carrying Jack to the bedroom he, Cali, and Alec shared.

"But I'm not tired," Jack said around a yawn and through an arm rub to his big green eyes.

"Then what was that yawn I heard?"

"Um…maybe that was you?" Jack suggested.

"I don't think so, bud." Dean shook his head once as he entered the triplet's bedroom. He gently placed Jack in his red racecar bed, one that Dean always dreamed of sleeping in when he was a tyke. "Now it's time to race off to sleep." Dean kissed Jack on his head and left the room to try and reel in his most challenging catch yet…Alec.

Now when it came time to try and put Alec to bed, Dean and his wife, Jaime, had to think beyond outside the box. Alec was a clever kid. A little too clever for his own good. Tight situations somehow managed to become less than a challenge for lil Alec most of the time.

One time Alec hid inside the bathtub. Another time he managed to slip behind the entertainment system in the playroom. But Dean's personal favorite was when Alec slipped past everyone in the house, went outside into the backyard, opened the lid to the sandbox, crawled in, and put the lid back on as best he could with him inside of the sandbox. Dean, Jaime, and even Ryan spent an hour looking for him, each convinced after 45 minutes that someone kidnapped him.

By now Dean figured out that Alec liked to crawl into and hide in small, dark places. He checked every bed in the house that wasn't a toddler bed since they had little to no bottom elevation from the floor. He checked every closet, behind every entertainment system, and every couch. No Alec.

"I thought I saw him slip into the basement. You do know he likes to move from hiding place to hiding place, right?" Ryan mentioned.

Bingo!

Dean found Alec inside the dryer in the laundry room portion of the basement.

"How did you find me?" Alec wondered as Dean pulled him out of the dryer. Thank God the kid didn't close the door all the way...

"I'm your dad, I know everything," Dean said.

"Uncle Sam said you don't know how to make a salad even if you were starving to death," Alec said as Dean placed him on his hip.

"And who does Uncle Sam come crying to every time he has car trouble?" Dean reminded his son giving him a semi stern fatherly look.

"You," Alec said.

"Exactly. Now next time you see Uncle Sam, you remind him of that or I'll leave his behind stranded on the side of the road next time he has car trouble."

Dean was ready for this day to come to an end. He was tired, his feet hurt, and he had the strongest desire to just lay on the couch and crash for the night. Between the busy day he had at the garage, making dinner for him and four kids, plowing through homework with Ryan and giving three four year olds a bath and packing their lunches for daycare tomorrow Dean was exhausted. He silently thanked God that Ryan could play out his night routine on his own because he wasn't so sure he could handle rounding up and putting another kid to bed in this house. The triplets really could give him a run for his money. They were definitely Winchesters.

Dean and Alec finally reached the halfway mark on the stairs to the second story of their family home when Alec suddenly realized something, or rather some_one_ was missing.

"Daddy! I left my Rath in the basement!" Alec shrieked.

"Rath? Is that the one that looks like a wolf or a tiger?" Dean wondered but internally thinking, 'Of course! Halfway up the stairs to the second floor and NOW he remembers his toy!'

"Tiger," Alec answered. "Benwolf looks like a wolf. He is in regular Ben 10 and Rath is in Ben 10: Alien Force," he explained. "Jack likes Benwolf the best."

"Ah," Dean nodded, "I don't know how you, Jack, or Ben 10 keep up with all these aliens, kiddo. There's so many." They made it back down the stairs and turned the corner to go down into the basement. Alec jumped out of his daddy's strong arms and ran over to his fallen toy that sat next to the washing machine. He swiftly picked it up and ran back to Dean to then climbed back up the stairs and up the second set of stairs, leading to the second floor of the house.

"Daddy, how come Uncle Sam can't fix cars like you can?" Alec wondered, lacing his arms and fingers around his father's neck in the same fashion that Cali had. He even gave Dean the same look of curiosity his sister had given their father earlier.

"Because Uncle Sam isn't smart when it comes to fixing cars, kiddo," Dean replied.

"Is he an idiot?" Alec asked as Dean stifled a laugh. Sometimes he wondered where this kid heard such language because he and Sam, Dean more so than Sam, always tried their damnedest to curve their language around their children.

"No, Uncle Sam is a very smart man. He's one of the smartest people I know."

"Just not with cars." Alec nodded, coming to his own conclusion.

"Exactly. And it's not nice to call people an idiot, Alec." Even if Dean thought it was pretty humorous. Finally Alec and Dean reached the triplets' bedroom. "And now it's time for you to close your eyes and go to sleep," Dean said as he laid Alec down in his blue race car bed, noting that, thank God, Cali and Jack already had their eyes closed and were well on their way to full blown sleep.

"Daddy, look at me, I'm a ghost. Oooooo," Alec said as he crawled under his blanket and pretended to be a ghost when in fact he really looked more like some kinda Ben 10 fleece blanket mush with his arms waving wild.

"That's very scary, Alec, but it's not playtime, it's bedtime," Dean said trying to pry the blanket off Alec's head. And when he did…

"BOO!" Alec popped out trying to startle his dad.

"Oh! You scared me!" Dean said. "Ok, Alec, enough games. It's time for bed, kiddo." He pulled the blanket back up to Alec's little chest.

"Daddy, look," Alec said and started kicking his feet, grinning at the scene he was causing. "My feet bounce!"

"I see that, Alec. Now go to sleep." Dean went to walk out of the room, but Alec stopped him.

"Daddy, wait!"

Dean turned around and sighed.

"I need my 'Pala," Alec said as he pointed to the top of the white dresser where a little black Matchbox Impala car sat.

Dean sighed and grabbed it, handing it to his son. "Ok, Alec, good night."

"Daddy, I need a drink of water."

"No kiddo. No drinks once you're in bed. You know that," Dean sternly said.

"Cause I might not wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom?" the little boy asked.

"Exactly." Dean nodded.

"And then my bed will be wet and I won't have sheets or my blanket?"

"Yes, Alec," Dean said, getting tired of answering his son's endless amounts of questions. He went to walk out of the triplets' room, wondering how Cali and Jack hadn't woken up through all of Alec's talking, and he hoped that his son was done asking questions…at least for the night. But as soon as he got to the threshold of the door and went to grab the doorknob…

"Daddy?"

Dean sighed internally in frustration and put on a forced smile. He turned to his son and said, "Yes, Alec?"

Dean's grinning little boy smiled from his blue race car bed, Rath and the mini 'Pala clutched tightly in his hands and held against his chest, and said, "I love you Daddy."

Dean chuckled once and smiled a real smile as he said, "I love you too, kiddo." He grabbed the doorknob once more and pulled the door shut. He walked away and shook his head thinking…there's still another one downstairs!


End file.
